A government twiddling its thumbs for policy announcement of its indifferent ally

On the one hand, the Donald Trump-led US government has not yet set out its Afghan policy with about six months of its term already passed, but on the other hand the Afghan government is sitting on its hands amid the deteriorating security situation and increased political wrangling in the country. Leaders of the National Unity Government (NUG) are waiting for the United States to offer them a solution to steer the country out of the current crisis, while the new US actions augur ill for the Afghan conflict.

Although Washington has not yet officially announced its decision on troop level in Afghanistan, an American ship carrying military vehicles, including 600 Humvees, for US troops in Afghanistan has reached Karachi. The dispatching of that number of military vehicles to Afghanistan is another sign of American intention to protract the Afghan conflict. It indicates there is a clear dichotomy between what Washington says and does in Afghanistan despite its public acknowledgement that there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict.

Before giving preference to military option to put an end to Afghan conflict, NUG leaders have to restudy Afghan history to see how many times that option has been experimented over the last decade and a half, and what its consequences were. If troop surge could have resolved Afghan conflict, the presence of over 150,000 foreign troops would have done it, and Afghanistan would now have been one of the most peaceful countries of the world. Taking into account the experience of the near past, any emphasis on military solution will mean the prolongation of Afghan war, an issue that has to be prevented by Afghan government.

The US role in resolving Afghan conflict cannot be ignored; however, there is a serious need for Afghan government to take the initiative in this regard. If the government only expects others to restore peace to the country, and if it doesn’t swing into action, peace, as the biggest hope of Afghan nation, will remain a hope for ever. Besides US Afghan policy, the National Unity Government should have a clear policy with regard to peace, or war if impelled, concurrent with present conditions and ground realities in the country so that it doesn’t get lost if the US completely turns its back on Afghanistan in the future.

One factor of the Afghan conflict is the Afghan government's failure to maintain a balance in its foreign policy. The imbalanced foreign policies of governments have paved the ground for Afghanistan to turn into a battlefield of proxy wars.